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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Movie Marathon- Courtroom dramas/court cases!!!

Alright Wrights and Spoons and any blog stalkers that want to participate (yeah, I’m talking to you Emily and Ami) it is time to start the first Movie Marathon featuring courtroom drama/court cases! Thank you to everyone who sent Emily and me movie suggestions and suggestions on what to call this new feature. We will be putting a poll up on the blog for everyone to vote on a name. As I said earlier, if none of your suggestions got picked, it could be that we think one of your movies fit into another category just as well, so it left room for a movie that might not fit into another category. For example, we got lots of suggestions for 12 Angry Men, one of my personal favorite courtroom drama movies. Em and I decided that movie fits well into another category we have in mind, so we are moving that to another category to make room for a movie on the list that doesn’t really fit well into another category.

Emily and I decided that we each got to pick one movie for the list and then the other three we decide between what you guys suggest and other movies Em and I come up with.

Okay, so are you ready to see what 5 movies we are going to watch?

Drum roll please…………

The Verdict

From the Hip

Philadelphia

Defending your Life

Breaker Morant

Here is a bit of a break down of each:

The Verdict-(1982 rated R)- Stars Paul Newman as an alcoholic ambulance chasing lawyer who is about to settle a malpractice suit, when he realizes the case should go to court. Paul Newman is at his best, and the screen play was written by David Mamet, who wrote other greats like Glengarry Glen Ross and The Untouchables. This is a movie both Emily and I had in mind and was suggested by Dad, of course.

From the Hip-(1987 rated PG)- Starring Judd Nelson and Elizabeth Perkins. The IMDB synopsis says “Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade.” This was the movie Em chose as her pick, but Amy also suggested it. Not sure if Em had this in mind before or after Amy’s suggestion.

Philadelphia (1993 rated PG-13)- Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who contracts AIDS and gets fired from the conservative law firm he works for. He hires Denzel Washington to represent him in a wrongful dismissal suit. The acting in this movie is brilliant. Hanks won Best Actor for this one. The story is intriguing and heart breaking. It is directed by Jonthan Demme who directed mine and Cam’s beloved Stop Making Sense as well as Silence of the Lambs and Neil Young: Heart of Gold (that’s for you Cat).

Defending Your Life (1991 rated PG)- Starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. The movie takes place in the afterlife “waiting room” where you spend your days in a court room defending your actions in life and proving you are worthy to go to heaven. This was my pick. I thought this would be a fun take on court room movies and it has Albert Brooks, whom I will try and fit movies he is in whenever I can. I love him, even more than his dad, Mel. Dan also suggested this movie.

Breaker Morant (1980 PG)- An Australian film about three Army officers on trial for killing a prisoner. I have not seen this movie. I have heard good things about it. I’m not sure if any of us have seen it. It won a lot of film festival awards when it came out including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for an academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay. One of the things I want to accomplish in this movie marathon is to watch movies we normally wouldn’t see, and I think this is a good one for that purpose. Could turn out to be a Wright Classic!

Well, that’s the list. I hope everyone is okay with it. You have no idea how hard it was to find court movies that are not rated R! You should be proud of us that there is only 1 on the list. And I really think that if The Verdict were made today, exactly the way it is, the MPAA would give it a PG-13 rating. I think it’s really funny that the most recent movie we are watching was released in 1993!

We also got a lot of suggestions for My Cousin Vinny and Liar Liar, seems everyone was hoping for a little comic relief in a pretty serious movie theme. We thought everyone has probably seen both movies a million times, so they don't need to be on the list. Besides, I cannot stand watching the kid in Liar Liar try to act, so I just couldn't make myself purposely watch that movie again. Sorry kid that is in that movie, I hope you've honed your acting skills. And Defending your Life and From The Hip should provide that relief for you.

I think we should start with The Verdict. I say we give everyone 2 weeks to see the movie, so that would be until October 27. If you guys want a different amount of time we can discuss that.

30 comments:

From the Hip was on my original list I made and was happy to see Amy validate it. I don't actually remember it being a real comedy. There may be a bit of comic relief, but that is not what stands out in my mind when I think of this film. A GREAT courtroom scene does however.I am happy to start this! Woot woot.

Oops Em, you're right. From the Hip was on your original list of court movies. Sorry, should have checked that. I added that this may provide some comic relief because IMDB used the words "charade" and "shenanigans" to describe the movie. Those two words kind of mean light hearted or comedy to me. Plus, in the movie poster Judd Nelson has a big Flinstone's type bone in his mouth.

I am sure I must have seen this movie, but I just don't remember! It came out in 1987, two years after The Breakfast Club! John Bender is one of my favorite movie characters of all time, so I am sure I saw Judd in anything soon after that! I just don't remember. I will have to see if any memories are sparked.

I forgot to mention that From The Hip was co-written by David E Kelley, so there is sure to be some pithy dialogue and odd comedic moments in this movie. I'm totally looking forward to watching it. Especially since I'm such a huge fan of Elizabeth Perkins in "Weeds", it will be fun to see her in an earlier role other than "Big".

The Breakfast Club is available on demand right now and I spent an afternoon watching it not long ago for the first time in a while. I like that movie. Perhaps From the Hip is a comedy, I haven't seen it in a very long time. I remember the general premise, but not so much the details I guess.

This is going to be so fun! What a great idea. I'm way excited. Primal Fear is one of the best courtroom movies I've ever seen. But, maybe we could have an Edward Norton month! oh wait. Are ANY of his movies PG13?

Ok, I got the poll up. I gave everyone until I think midnight on the 19th, and I allowed multiple answers for now. I saw how many we had and decided we could see what are the most popular and then have a final poll on the 20th of the most popular. Unless one is far above the rest and is the obvious favorite.

Oh and yes Sue I have seen Philadelphia but not since it came out and it is excellent, I'm glad you thought of it. Also, to add to your Neil Young/Philadelphia comments, he also wrote a song for the movie called "Philadelphia" and it's awesome.

Hey, Ems: Explain again what the Poll is and what we are voteing for? My mush mind is out of order. Is it a vote on the 5 courtroom movies we are gonna watch? How well we liked them in some order or what. Thanking you in advance for some clairifacation.

I like "All The Wright Movies" quite a bit. Pulp Features makes me laugh. Amy is right though, Movie Marathon doesn't bother me. But I think we could do some more brain storming.Inglorious Pick-tures!! hahaThe Sound Of Movies!! Did you come up with these Em? They are great! I don't know if they should be the name of the game, but nevertheless awesome. ;D haha. lol.